Arts and Culture

Review: Tom Walker’s Honk Honk Honk Honk Honk

Tom Walker’s comedy isn’t for everybody. Last year, he kept a running tally on precisely how much his comedy wasn’t for everybody, recording every walkout of his last show, Bee Boo. The tally, the walkouts, and the confused audiences are all a thing of the past with Tom’s latest show, Honk Honk Honk Honk Honk. It’s the same Tom, but it’s all a little different.

Where Bee Boo was confronting and confusing, Honk Honk Honk Honk Honk is sweet and welcoming. It’s still weird as all heck, but there’s no lingering sense of malice that seemed to be present in last year’s show, no feeling that at any moment Tom Walker’s presence of regal benevolence could turn. It is, instead, a really warm performance, which takes effort and skill in a space like The Factory.

It’s still very early in the show’s run. There were glaring technical difficulties, and while Tom was fantastic at addressing them, it still wore thin after a while. The only real problem of the show was that it felt like there was too little show for what time and space was allotted. Not only did it feel like stage was way too large – dwarfing even an energy like Tom Walker’s – it felt like maybe some of his ideas (all quite brief indulgences) weren’t given the respect that they deserved. The connective tissue of the show is weak – but the meat of the show, the indulgent, drawn out comedy, is stellar.

Even with these problems, all of which will right themselves in time, Tom Walker’s Honk Honk Honk Honk Honk is joyous. ★★★★1/2